The lonely path of the Mew
by Nitafrong
Summary: Susan is just begining her Pokemon journey but she is plauged by nightmares linking her with the mythical Pokemon and violence. She struggles to dominate her Pokemon. After being kidnapped by Team Rocket a mysterious creature starts to hunt her.
1. Is meaning always required?

The lonely path of the Mew  
  
Copyright- Pokemon and its characters/Pokemon do not belong to me in any sence of the word.  
  
The lonely path of the Mew  
  
Susan jerked forward suddenly awake, her eyes wide and staring, her paws clutching… Outside the rain drummed ceaselessly against her window. Occasionally the dull crack of thunder could be heard as the storm exploded its fury. In the hot close confines of her room she could feel the walls pressing in on her, surrounding her, cutting out her breath. Concentrating on the faint shape of her door, she fought back against the claustrophobia forcing herself to take deep breaths. In the dark twilight of her bedroom her panicked breathing started to slow as the faint residue of terror from her dream started to recede. Wiping a film of sweat from her forehead she paused as she looked at her hand. Yes, she thought, it was a hand…. Suddenly awake she tried to remember the details of her nightmare but already the facts were slipping away from her slipping through her fingers like so much sand. She could barely remember anything about her dream. Turning her head to the bright red figures of her bedside clock she saw that it was just past three. Letting her head fall back to the pillow she closed her eyes and tried to dispel her last feelings of fear. Outside the rain continued to fall lashing the buildings below, like a beast trying to prize open the chest to get at the soft inner flesh. Combined with the seething mass above it helped mask the large shape floating high in the sky. The dark blue eyes of the great bird like creature stared down at the window far below, ignoring the rain which splattered against the psychic shield surrounding it. The tail with two horns swished as the creature hung in the air its great pale blue wings still. It didn't worry about someone happening to catch sight of it. Unless someone had one of its feathers or it chose to reveal itself, it was invisible to human eye. At the moment though, being seen was the least of her concerns. The psychic waves were fading away now but a minute ago they had been emanating from this house quite clearly. Was this a sign or a warning? The great Pokemon sighed as it stared through the pelting rain. The Gods had chosen her to see this, but for what purpose? She couldn't risk revealing herself. Her wings started to beat through the air as she turned from the building and lifted off into the air. As long as the girl didn't relapse, everything would be fine she thought with naïve hope. Even as she flew her mind started to become engrossed with more simple desires.  
  
Her village was too small to host a Pokecenter, the nearest was in the neighbouring town of Skycaps. Miss Violet who ran the centre had begun a scheme a couple of years previously to help trainers who were going to start their journeys. It compromised of four one-hour classes, which any potential trainer could attend. In these she helped them with maps, how to recognise if their Pokemon was sick and needed to be taken to a Pokemon centre and even how to set up a tent. In the final class she had managed to get Professor Oak to visit with all the different Pokemon that would be handed out the following week to the trainers. She felt that it would help the trainers if they had a brief introduction to the Pokemon and perhaps help them with their choices, especially for those who had never met a Pokemon in the flesh before. For Susan the day had been an abject failure. When she had crowded in the reception area of the Pokecentre with all the other ten-year-olds, she had felt her excitement start to build. This would be the day that she would see her Pokemon partner for the first time, she told herself.  
But when she finally got into the garden behind the Pokecentre, where Oak was presiding over all the Pokemon, she was conscious of a dull feeling of anticlimax. By the end of the hour she had felt no warm feelings toward any of the Pokemon. Instead she had felt angry and frustrated and was glad to finally get out of the garden. At different points she had become quite incensed at her fellow trainers. She had felt absurdly jealous to see how much enjoyment they had got from interacting with the Pokemon. It made her feel that she was missing something important. They were just animals, pets that obeyed orders, she had thought. At first she had tried to summon interest, watching the small Pokemon bound about. But it had been a deeply unsatisfactory experience for her. She had felt her anger build and by the end she was glaring at any Pokemon which dared snuffle toward her.  
Moving into the hedge to let a car drive past, her mind returned to the present. She continued along the road, her eyes staring unfocused before her. Her experience had started to sow doubt in her mind about her Pokemon journey. Do I really want to be a trainer, she thought to herself? What could she really get out of it? Since Oaks presentation they were questions, which had begun to plague her. Before she hadn't given it much thought, she had just assumed that training Pokemon would be fun. Wasn't that what adult's always said, she thought bitterly. Whenever a Pokemon journey was mentioned, adults went misty eyed and recalled the wonderful adventures they had and the bonds they had built up with their Pokemon.  
She hadn't been able to understand her own feelings behind the Pokecenter. Why didn't she fall in love with the Pokemon like the others? It felt like a failure, as if they had got one up on her. At first she had tried to persuade herself that it was just one day, that when she finally got her Pokemon, everything would be different. But as she thought back she had realised that she had never been particularly interested in Pokemon. They had been present in her life, in books, on the TV and her parents still had some of their Pokemon. She had known that she would eventually become a Pokemon trainer but she had always regarded Pokemon as something secondary when she was younger, something that she would get into later in her life.  
Still, she thought, what else could I do here? Even if the Pokemon were not very interesting, the journey would still give her a chance to do some exploring. To stay here would be seen as a failure by everyone else. They would laugh at me, she thought feeling anger boil up again, they would say she was scared. She would show them.  
She was passing the main street of her village, Turquoise now, almost at the end of her walk. On either side of her different buildings clung to the dark tarmac, the bight modern facades of the shops contrasting with the well-worn architecture surrounding it. As she passed by the corner shop several children her own age waved at her to join them inside. She ignored them, turning her head away jealousy sparking up in her heart. She could be a better trainer than any of them, if she really wanted to.  
Finally clearing the last outlying buildings she turned left off the main road and up the steep side road toward her house. It stood halfway up a series of hills, which rose up from the valley floor. Masked from the road by a handful of trees and bushes, her house had once been an old tenant cottage. Though renovated extensively it still retained its thick stonewalls, covered in a brightly reflective whitewash. Unlike her parents Susan had no love for the rusticity of her house. Despite new windows, the interior still felt dull and dark to her and the constant use of the bright electrical lights was trying on her eyes. Moreover she still recalled how confined she had felt by the thick stonewalls the first time she had stepped though the door. Since then she had grown used to the house but still preferred to spend as much time outdoors as possible. Immediately to the back of the house was a paved area leading to her mother's garden. Striding up the slightly overgrown lawn, past the brightly coloured plants arrayed on either side she made for her section of the garden. Separated from the lawn by a number of spindly trees stood her plot. With the end of the soft spring warmth and the approach of the cloying summer most of her plants were in full bloom. Arrayed haphazardly across the slanted ground grew a number of different wildflowers, intermingled with some other indigenous plants and weeds.  
When she had first seen the ground, it had been a barren stony wasteland. It had been her first day in the countryside, new from the town. She had had no experience with gardening but to her surprise she found that she had a real fascination with plants. At first she had aided her mother in the main garden before soon tiring of it. She had enjoyed the growing of the plants but had soon become frustrated at the constant maintenance of the flowers and the battle against weeds. Deciding to develop a patch for herself she had moved to the patch of ground beyond her mothers, where she had tried to make it hospitable for plants. It had been hard work for her, toiling through her chosen patch trying to soften the ground and remove all the stones. In the beginning the ground refused to work with her, its barren furrows free of all traces of greenery. She still remembered with a faint trace of shame, walking away from it through her mother's garden and in a fit of rage stamping on some of the more delicate flowers. The next season though was mild and green shoots had made their first surface. To the annoyance of her mother she had refused to tend to or weed her patch letting it grow wild. For Susan all that mattered was to see plants grow, to watch the first tentative green emergence slowly transform into strong, confident survivor proudly displaying its blaze of colour.  
As she looked down at it now, three years since she had begun she could see some large patches of sweet violet and snow drops, wildflowers that she had bought from their local garden centre. Their growth was already starting to get impeded by weeds, which had started to regain control. The growth of the weeds had been inexorable; spreading quickly across uninhabited areas of freshly dug earth. At first it had looked like the wildflowers could defend against the hostile invasion but already she could see weeds infesting areas among the flowers bristling in their light studded armour. In every bright purple grove, the dark bottle green of the weeds could be seen, starting to make their presence felt.  
Suddenly as she stared at the plants she saw something move in a mound of violet to her right. Moving over she caught a glance of pale whit fur. Her earlier frustration exploding into anger she took a violent kick at it. Lifting itself up from the ground, her mothers Meowth gave an angry hiss and flared out its fur.  
"Get out of here!" she shouted at it "now!" Recognising her the Meowth hesitated before slinking away. She glared after its retreating form before moving over to look where it had been. How dare he come in here, she thought to herself as the anger steamed inside her, this was her private garden!  
As she moved her fingers through the paths of plants looking to see if the Pokemon had made any disturbance, she suddenly felt a sharp pain. Retracting her hand quickly she discovered a line of blood emerging from her pounding finger. A droplet of the dark fire welled up and plummeted, leaving a faint rusty residue as it dripped down a plant stem. Sucking at her finger hard, she thought angrily on how she would get her revenge on her father's partner.  
  
Shovelling the cereal into her mouth with her spoon, Susan concentrated her eyes on the bowl and away from her parents. There was an awkward silence in the room broken occasionally by her parent's attempts at conversation and her monosyllabic replies. She normally got on well enough with her parents. It was just that Susan didn't feel particularly close to either of them, certainly not enough to confide her fears to them. She felt that they wouldn't understand her feelings about being a trainer or her recent fit of nightmares. They had been occurring almost every night now leaving fragmented images and strange feelings of fear. She was aware that her parents knew she was keeping things back from them, they had questioned her in the past about it but she still wasn't prepared to say anything.  
There were a number of reasons she didn't feel particularly close to her parents. One of these was that she was adopted. It was something, which she had been told at an early age, she was so different to her parents in her appearance. Both were tall, with brown hair and clear blue eyes. In contrast she was quite small for her age, with black hair, which fell past her shoulders in a ponytail and dark green eyes. At a time she remembered whishing that when she woke up she might look like them, that she was in fact their child. But that had been many years previous and adoption had been something that she had grown used to, it didn't really bother her anymore.  
She also felt she had no need to confide with her parents. She was strong enough to deal with her problems on her own; she didn't need to go running to her parents for help like a baby.  
As she rose to wash her bowel, her mother took it from her, smiling weakly "Don't look so worried, I'm sure you will have a wonderful time" her mother said, her voice sounding a bit too bright, even to her. Will I, she thought to herself, ashamed at the tight feeling in her throat. Her father reached into his pocket and handed her a creased brown envelope. "Just some extra spending money for you. There's also a call card in there so you can call us whenever you need to." Reaching up she hugged him tight before moving over to her mother. Lastly she moved over to her parents Pokemon, her mothers crusty old Sandshrew and her fathers Meowth. Both had been waiting made anxious by their masters. As she petted them she couldn't help but notice their tiny jerks as she touched them. As she heaved her pack onto her shoulders she realised that she had scarcely spoke a couple of words to her parents. Turning back to them she noticed their anxious looks toward her. "Thank you very much for the money, I'll call before I leave Skycaps to tell how I get on." As she walked resolutely up the path from her house toward the village road she waved back at the people who had been the centre of her universe for 10 years, her cheek still tingling from her mothers parting kiss.  
  
This is the second draft of this chapter. I'm not too sure if I am going to change the other chapters just as much as this one but I will probably upload a fourth chapter before then Can you please review it and tell me what you think of it so far? 


	2. Rule or be ruled

The lonely path of the Mew  
  
Copyright- Pokemon and its characters/Pokemon do not belong to me in any sence of the word.   
  
The sun was already beginning to set behind the dark eminence of Mt Moon before Susan finally spotted what she was looking for. Up ahead of her there was a split in the dark dirt pathway through the murkily looming woods. Reaching for her now crumpled map she tried to figure out which would lead to Red Birch Camp, her resting point for the night. Trudging down the left pathway, she started to listen carefully to see if she could hear the reassuring noises of other campers. Ten minutes later she stumbled down a steep pathway to find herself in a large clearing. For a second or two she stared around her with dazed expression before slipping her arms from the straps of her rucksack and letting it fall to the ground. Rubbing her aching shoulders she looked around the campsite again with a growing sense of dismay. When she had read campsite on her map she had expected an area bustling with tents, trainers, and that there would be a cheery campsite fire already burning. Instead she was afforded a view of an eerily empty clearing surrounded on all sides by the dark shapes of trees. The only sign that this was indeed a camp were a couple of dark ash circles that marked old campfires. Sighing, Susan lowered herself to the ground only to find that it was damp, causing her to spring up again. Taking a closer look at the ground she noted that it was made up of the damp remains of pine needles. Stranded in the middle of an empty wood, her neck and back aching from her pack, Susan suddenly felt very homesick. What was she pretending to be out here? However she managed to quell her urge to cry and instead turned back to her pack. The light was beginning to drain from the woods and she knew she needed to have her tent set up before it got too dark. Resisting the urge to stare over her shoulder at every small noise, she proceeded through the long process of erecting the tent. Without her parents to help her it seemed to take much longer but she finally finished before the dusk descended. Crawling inside the strangely plastic smelling area inside, she fussily arranged her belongings around it before sticking her head out the opening again. For a second or two she debated with herself about making a campfire before deciding that she would be fine without it. The woods around her were getting pretty dark and she didn't fancy wandering around looking for firewood. For the first time since arriving at the campsite she glanced down at the Pokeball attached to her belt. Should she let him out or not? Despite her misgivings she reached down and gripped the small ball, almost dropping it in surprise when it grew full size, and threw it into the air "Go Pidgey". With a flash of red light the small brown bird Pokemon appeared. As he landed on the ground he regarded her with a suspicious expression before starting to peck at the ground, keeping one eye on her. Moving slowly, Susan reached inside her pack and removed a bag of Pokemon food and started to sprinkle it on the ground near him. As she looked up she saw he was staring at her with pointed angry eyes.   
  
"This is some food. You should try it." With a look of contempt the Pidgey turned its back on her. Feeling anger flare up inside her she lifted up his Pokeball and recalled him. Perhaps a night without food might teach him some respect for her. But as she started to make her own food her anger subsided into despair. It seemed like nothing had improved between them since this morning. When she had arrived at the Pokemon centre with James in the morning everyone in their class was there. Professor Oak had then led them through to a large room in the middle of the Pokemon centre and had given them a long speech about how lucky they were and about how they must look after their Pokemon. He then brought them over to a number of wire mesh cages in which cavorted a number of small Pokemon. Besides her Pidgey there had been a Charmander, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Oddish, Rattata, Goldeen, Mankey, Nidoran male and female, and an Eevee. For the next couple of minutes most of their class had wandered around the cages petting the different Pokemon. If she remembered correctly, she thought bitterly, her Pidgey had been perfectly friendly to the other trainers. Oak had then formed all of them into a line to get them to choose a partner. As she had been hanging back from the rest of the trainers she had found herself at the back of the queue. By the time she had reached the cages the only Pokemon left was the Pidgey. She had reached in to pet it like the others had done but he had jabbed his beak into her hand and had jumped out of the open top of the cage. She had felt herself blushing as she went after it as he wandered from trainer to trainer, as if he wanted to pick another trainer. It was then that the others had started to laugh. Professor Oak had to help her get him into his Pokeball but he had scratched them both in the process with his feet. James then headed off towards Cerulean with some of the others to challenge the gym leader there, while desperate not to be embarrassed again that day she had decided to head off alone towards Viridian forest.  
  
Stifling a scream she awoke, panicking for a second as she found herself unable to move before realising that she was in her sleeping bag. Feeling hot and breathless she slid forward toward the opening of the tent and pulled down the zip, and drank in the fresh air, trying to slow down her breathing. The sun was already out but even in the bright morning light she still felt vaguely nervous and tense. The memories from her dream retreating from her, like shadows beneath the high sun, but the little she did remember was strange. She had been in a small cell, lit by the sharp glow of an uncovered bulb. It was the bulb she remembered best, hanging from a single wire nothing escaped its glare…. Shaking her head she tried to banish the strangely disturbing image, she raised herself up and went over to her pack to arrange breakfast.  
  
As she marched forward though the forest again she was surprised how stiff and sore her body felt. It was as if she hadn't rested at all. Unlike the previous night the forest seemed alive today. The shone down through the leaves casting a greenish glow over everything. The cheep of Pidgey's and the distinctive squawk of Spearow's sounded through the forest as well as the occasional call that she didn't recognise. At first she kept her eyes pealed, searching through the trees and undergrowth around her for Pokemon but by mid-morning she was just plodding forward, her eyes on the path before her. She stopped for lunch in a little hollow, in which there was a number of boulders were strewn about. Leaning against one of these while she drank from her water bottle she toyed with the idea of letting her Pokemon out again. Sooner or later she would be involved in a Pokemon battle and her Pidgey would have to obey her. If she didn't impose discipline on him now, he might never obey her. Unclipping the small sphere from her belt she threw it into the air and with a loud cheep, her Pidgey flew into the air.   
  
"Pidgey…" she started before her Pokemon suddenly banked in the air and swooped at her almost slashing the side of her face with his feet, calling with a high-pitched angry scream. Backing away she fell back on the ground trying to dodge his next pass. Picking herself up from the rocky ground she felt a hot surge of anger flow though her. How dare he treat her, his master like this? Her hand closing round a small stone, she rose up as he turned in the air and launched it at him. The stone smashed into the bird Pokemon sending him crashing down into the ground a few feet from her.   
  
As she stared down at the grounded she felt the fire of rage flow from her and a feeling of numb disbelief spread. She moved slowly over and bent down. Her Pokemon was struggling on the ground one wing flapping while the other, she saw with a sickening jolt, was bleeding from a deep gash near the muscle between the wing and his body. As she reached out a hand, he suddenly reared up, striking at her outstretched hand with his beak, before falling back to the ground his eyes narrowed with fear and hate. Her stomach tight with a feeling a sickness, Susan opened her Pokeball and in a flash of red he returned inside her sphere. For a second she was too shocked to move, the scene still replaying in her mind. She had physically attacked her Pokemon, actually injured him breaking all the basic codes of Pokemon training. What was Oak say if he saw her now? What would he say, a part of her suddenly thought. He did always did stress that the trainer had to assume control over their Pokemon. The Pidgey is my Pokemon, she thought, he is mine to control and he was attacking me. If I had let him get away with it, what would he have done next? Maybe this way he would eventually learn some respect for her. Feeling slightly better she rose to her feet. There was no point in panicking about this she told herself, she just had to try and think clearly. Reaching for her map she spread it out against a tree trunk. According to the map, she wasn't too far from Mt Moon Pokecentre; she could probably make it by nightfall and have her Pidgey cured by the morning. Hoisting her pack up she was just about to make her way back to the path when she heard a disturbance in the trees near the clearing. A small brown Pokemon sprang from the bushes near her into the clearing before plunging further into the forest, out of her sight before she could pull out her Pokedex. It was the first wild Pokemon she had seen all day and without any further thought she ran after it, her backpack bouncing awkwardly on her back. As she ran through the trees she ignored the stray branches and brambles, which slashed at her, only concerned with the small shape ahead of her. Just as she felt as if her chest was going to explode she saw that her quarry had finally come to a stop. It was leaning against a large tree panting but as she neared it, it spun round its teeth bared. Now that she was closer to it she recognised it as an Eevee, one of the Pokemon, which had been at the Pokemon centre. She was just about to reach for a Pokeball when she heard the sound of running footsteps. She turned just in time to see two people dressed in black run into the clearing. Both were in there thirties, one male and the other female. But it wasn't their faces, which caught Susan's attention, rather the large red, "R" on their chests.   
  
"Team Rocket?" she asked curiously. The man and the woman were also clearly surprised to see her. "What are you doing here?"   
  
"Trying to catch this Pokemon." The mans eyes suddenly flared.  
  
"That Pokemon belongs to Team Rocket! Get out of here now!" As Susan stared up at the mans beetroot face, she remembered the rumours she had heard about Team Rocket. About how they stole Pokemon or how they forced others to breed in tiny caged enclosures so that they could supply places like Celadon Coin Exchange. Eevee was also a very rare Pokemon, perhaps when she caught it Pidgey would obey her will. Even if he didn't, she thought, I would have no need for a Pidgey if I had an Eevee.   
  
"There's no way I'm letting you take it. I got here first, so it's my Pokemon."  
  
"You actually think you can stop us? Go Arboc!" With a loud hiss, the giant purple reptile appeared, spreading out its flaps to make itself look bigger. "Arboc" her Pokedex chimed, "the snake Pokemon. This…." But Susan wasn't listening to it. The Pokemon was strangely familiar to her. As she stared at it her head suddenly started to pound, black spots impeding her vision. Falling to her knees in front of the surprised Rockets, she clutched clutching her head as she gave in to the pain of splitting death beats, as if something was trying to break loose, her mouth open in a silent scream. Though her eyes were scrunched shut, an image suddenly came before her eyes. She was looking down at the big violet snake Pokemon. It was lying in a broken bloody heap before her. Blood was everywhere, she could feel it in her mouth, sticking to her fur and it was gathering in a huge puddle around the dead body. At least half of its skull was missing and there were huge chunks missing from its body, as if some monster had taken bites from it. She felt strangely empty of emotion as she stared down at it. No anger, no pity or regret. No feeling at all for the dead Pokemon. She became aware of a small whimpering noise. As she listened to it she suddenly realised that it was coming from her mouth. The storm of emotions and explosive pain suddenly returned, and she screamed out, her fingers digging into her skull as if she was trying to dig the pain out.   
  
Unaware to her as she shook on the ground, the two Pokemon were pressing up against the legs of the two Rockets, both petrified of the girl. The Arboc twisted itself around the chest of the man, while the Eevee hid its face in the woman's arms.   
  
"What's going on?" the man questioned, "I let Arboc out just to scare her…." The girl suddenly screamed again and the ground started to shake violently. As they struggled to stay on their feet both Pokemon attempted to bolt for the safety of the trees. Wild with panic, the Eevee clawed at the restraining hands and the Arboc twisted violently as it tried to escape. Slowly shaking grew less and less violent. As it finally stopped the Pokemon stopped struggling but both were still shaking with fear. The two Rockets glanced over to see that girl was no moving. As they moved slowly over to her they saw that the ground around her was cracked and splintered, as if something heavy had suddenly pressed down.   
  
"I think we better let the Boss know about this."  
  
I hope to have a new chapter of this up soon. Can you please review it and tell me what you think of it so far? Thanks to Farla for her advice with this. 


	3. The Hunter

The lonely path of the Mew  
  
Copyright- Pokemon and its characters/Pokemon do not belong to me in any sence of the word.  
  
"This could be it. This could be my big opportunity" Robert mused aloud as he strode along a faintly discernible forest path. Suddenly remembering the figure beside him, he quickly added "Our big opportunity." There was no reaction however from the woman walking alongside him. He wasn't sure if she was even listening to him. Mary had become very quiet in the last couple of months. Her heart didn't seem in the job anymore; as if she no longer believed that they could escape from the drudgery of the lower ranks of Team Rocket. Turning his head he looked at the girl draped over his shoulder. Couldn't Mary see that this girl was their ticket out of all this menial labour?  
From what he had seen at the clearing, he felt fairly certain that there was something strange about this girl. Perhaps, he thought with growing excitement, she might even be a psychic. He knew how prised psychic Pokemon were and he was hoping the same would be true for human psychics.  
His shoulder had started to ache, but he ignored the growing pain and instead concentrated on how he would benefit from the girl's capture. Perhaps he might even gain some extra money as well as a promotion. It would serve as appropriate compensation for all the times he had been ignored in the past. He felt the familiar surge of anger as his mind returned to the memories of his past defeats. It had only been because of his age that the leadership had ignored him, he was sure of it. If he had only joined when he had first been a trainer, he would already be a Captain in charge of a large area. He would be living in a large suburban mansion with an expensive car, instead of tiny Rocket owned complexes, being constantly moved from area to area. Others had only been chosen in front of him simply because of their age. There could be no other reason for it; he was much more skilled than any of the others could hope to be. His mind continued along his long list of past grievances, a subject he had often dwelled upon in the past.  
The trees in front of the two Rockets suddenly gave way to a small man-made clearing. In the centre stood the Team Rocket Repository for the Mt Moon area. Despite its grand title the Repository was in fact simply a warehouse. Fashioned with bricks and with a triangular corrugated steel roof, the building had a nondescript appearance resembling those buildings where companies stockpiled resources. Inside it was made up of a single floor compromising of an office, a kitchen, a washroom, and a dorm. Below the ground in a large basement complex held the real reason for the warehouse. Along the walls of the basement was lined cage after cage. Pokemon of every description were locked inside these cages, waiting here till the next Team Rocket transport lorry arrived via the hidden roadway on the other side of the complex. The lorries transported the Pokemon to more secure locations from which they could be given to Coin Exchanges or to Rockets. The Pokemon were kept in cages as some were able to escape from their Pokeballs and in the past these had caused substantial damage. The larger and more dangerous Pokemon were kept unconscious via the use of drugs. Rocket security for the complex was limited only to a handful of loaded weapons, and a number of Pokemon. The security was relatively low as the base was only of limited importance and as yet the police hadn't discovered it.  
There was one sentry at watch at the side entrance as Robert and Mary approached. Despite being in the complex for a week already Robert didn't know the name of the young man. There was a strong sense of competition between the Rockets in the base as the teams which caught the most Pokemon, were moved to bigger and better postings. In the whole week that Robert had been at the complex, he had barely spoken to the other Rockets. It didn't help matters that as well as being in competition with him, everyone in the base was younger than him, heightening his feelings of shame and anger.  
The sentry at watch was leaning against the wall of the building and was clearly bored. However as Robert closed the distance between them, he noticed the man stand up and take an interest in him.  
"Why are you back so early? Given up already?" Suddenly noticing the girl he continued, "Who's that?"  
"None of your business. She is my prisoner!" Robert replied, glaring at the man.  
"Do you want the whole police force down around our ears? We don't take prisoner's here, get rid of her!"  
Robert barely listened to what the kid was saying. He could barely contain the anger boiling up inside him. How dare this youngster argue with him?  
"Look," he growled, "this girl is mine and I'm taking her inside here whither you like it or not."  
The younger man stared at him for a couple of seconds before relenting.  
"She can stay her for the moment but once the Captain returns you'll have to explain yourself to him." Robert pushed angrily past, his shoulder slamming into the other Rocket. The sentry turned to watch as he stamped toward down the stairs toward the basements.  
"Where are you taking her?"  
"I'm locking her in one of the Pokemon cages. There's no way I'm letting my promotion escape this time"  
As Robert and Mary disappeared down the stairs the sentry was left staring with a confused expression.  
  
Lowering my nose to the ground I inhaled the still morning air. Ignoring the different plant and animal smells, I focused on one particular scent. The woods produced a wide myriad of scents and smells but to a nose as complex as mine it was easy to track the one I desired. I was closing in on my Prey; it couldn't be more than a couple of hours in front of me. The thrill of the Hunt infused me with new vigour and I returned to my quick pace through the woods. As I brushed past tree and bush I barely noticed the heads of the animals as they stared out at me. They were no threat and so I simply ignored them. There would be time enough after the Hunt to think about eating. Feeding only distracted me from my overall goal, to complete the Hunt.  
I had been created as the perfect hunter. Every Hunt I started I finished, either killing my prey or bringing it back, whichever I had been ordered. Broken, bleeding or near death, if required I had always brought my prey back to my master. But there was one exception to this. One prey I had attempted to hunt many times but always failed. She had disappeared without a trace many years ago. Some didn't even believe that she was still alive, that she had died all those years ago. Since then my master had alerted me to a number of possible targets that had a possibility of being my Prey. While hunting her I had ridden the fierce joyride that was the Hunt only to feel the sharp sickness of failure. I hated that moment, to stare into the face of the prey, the prey that had transfixed my every thought during the Hunt, to see nothing but pathetic human eyes staring back. It was often at this point that I lost control of my anger and unleashed my full power on the former target. And from what I had seen so far I had no grounds to hope that this might be my real prey. It had made no attempt to cover its tracks like I knew that She could. Was I going to fail to find her yet again?  
Forcing myself to stop I tried to clear my mind of all stray thoughts. I was loosing focus in the Hunt. It didn't matter if I had failed Hunts in the past; all that mattered was my dedication to this Hunt. Sinking my mind into the blind concentration of the Hunt I moved through the forest again, my nose picking out the distinctive odour of my prey.  
  
They surrounded her. There was a representative of each of the different orders. The large birds hovered just above the ground, and the dog-like creatures slunk just out of her reach, their powerful limbs poised and ready for the upcoming fight. There was only one exception from their circle of legendaries. She was that exception. She was now their enemy  
Sensing the attack before it hit, she leapt up into the air, her tail- tail? arching behind her head, ready to strike…  
Lowering her head into the cold river, she drank with a greedy intensity, before turning over to lie on the sandy shore. Now that she was no longer parched, she was content to sleep. Finally pulling herself up from the ground, she padded on all four paws paws?? toward the tree line. Extending her claws she climbed the tree with ease and curled herself up between the branch and the tree trunk…  
A Mankey took a swipe at her. With practised ease, she pulled her head back, dodging the attack. For the next couple of seconds she played with him, moving out of the way just before any of his attacks could hit. Finally tiring of her game, she outstretched her paw and lifted him high up into the air before slamming him with extreme violence into a tree trunk…  
She awoke with a sudden start slamming her head into something hard and unyielding. Rubbing her head, she turned and looked around her. Her heart skipped a beat, as she saw the steel bars surrounding her. The cage was only big enough to allow her to sit half up. Reaching out with her paws, she grabbed the bars and shook them violently, trying to break her way through. After a minute she let go realising the futility of her effort and lay back trying to catch her breath. Taking the time to look outside her cage, she saw that she was in a large room of some kind, but it was hard for her to see in the gloom, the room only lit by the faint light, which shone down through the cracks in the ceiling above. Where was she, she asked herself feeling her heartbeat quicken. Thinking back she remembered walking through the woods when something…  
A noise to her right alerted her that she wasn't alone. As she stared into the dark shadow of the cage beside her, she was just able to make out the shape of the Eevee. It was cowering in the farthest corner away from her. She stuck out a paw to comfort it…  
Feeling panic growing inside her, she stared at her hand. It was still a hand; it had four fingers and a thumb, it looked nothing like a paw at all. "What's happening to me", she whispered to herself as she rocked backwards. The dreams returned to her as she sat there, frightening her with their clearness and intensity. It was almost as if they weren't dreams at all, as if they were….  
No, she couldn't think like that. There had to be some other explanation. Perhaps they were memories of some film or book from her childhood. She was human, not a monster. She was human…  
  
I was getting closer and closer to my prey; it couldn't have passed through here less than three or four hours previous. But it no longer looked as if it was going to be so simple. Two other humans and at least two other Pokemon had joined my prey. There had been a confrontation of some sort between my prey and them. I could still smell the fear and adrenaline from that spot. But it was my other senses, which told a much more interesting story. Something strange had happened in the clearing, the cracks and splits in the ground bore witness to this. From these I was able to sense psychic power. Feeling the excitement grow within me, I wondered if I was really on her track.  
The thrill of the Hunt was coursing anew through me. As the Hunt came to an end, its power was accentuated. I had been on the Hunt for many hours now but all thought of rest had been banished. I was buoyant, looking forward to finally ending the Hunt.  
As I bounded through the woods my enhanced senses started to pick up the smells of humans. Slowing my pace down, I started to focus my different senses. Pumped with excitement and energy as I was, I tried to force some of it down and think clearly. It was always at the end of a Hunt that you were most likely to make a mistake. I had to analyse the situation carefully and make sure I wasn't going to rush heedlessly into my death.  
From what I was able to smell it looked like I wasn't dealing with just two or three humans anymore. On the path alone I smelled at least ten different human scents, apart from my prey, which had passed along this way in the last twenty-four hours. And from what I could tell from the jumble of past scents, the humans seemed to be passing along this way pretty frequently within the last week. As I sat trying to figure out why so many humans would frequent this area of the woods everyday, I suddenly remembered something I had heard a couple of months previous. Apparently Team Rocket had a base near Mt Moon from which they organised their snatch and grab raids. Team Rocket was a petty criminal organisation of which I was neither an ally nor an enemy. If they held my prey it wouldn't matter though, I would do anything to make sure my Hunt was successful. Riled up as I was, I almost charged forward to complete the Hunt now but I managed to stop myself. Though only an organisation obsessed with moneymaking, Team Rocket members could still be dangerous. All were armed with their animal pets and some might even have small arms. Desperate as I was to finish this Hunt, I knew I needed to plan my attack with careful consideration. I couldn't take ten armed humans head on.  
I moved forward with my reduced pace until a building finally came into my sight. Keeping in the shadows of the wood, I skirted round the clearing, looking at the base from all angles. When I had finally completed my circle I had ascertained that the base did indeed belong to the Rockets and that they had a guard at each of the entrances. One entrance was clearly for vehicles and the other for personnel. Other than the two guards I knew that there would be at least two other's in the building with my prey. Just in case, I figured that there would be at least two others in the building as well. That left me with seven possible humans to deal with and I estimated that there would be between twelve and twenty four of their pets. Even with all my superior abilities, I wouldn't be able to deal with all of these at once. I would have to use stealth, disabling the Rockets before they got the chance to raise the alarm and make use of their superior numbers. The most dangerous aspect of the attack would be the ten or so seconds it would take me to get to the base across open country. I was fairly limited at long range and this would be when the human guns would be most effective. Once inside the base I trusted that the tight confines would negate their number advantage and my close combat expertise would give me the upper hand. I checked the ground again for booby traps but the ground didn't seem to have been disturbed.  
I would attack the base via the side entrance to the base. Despite its longer distance from the woods than the two main doors, I felt that it would be the safer option; there would be less chance of any further defences behind it.  
As I waited in the woods, I started to increase my breathing rate, taking shorter and quicker breaths. The additional oxygen helped prepare my muscles for the upcoming action. While I prepared my body, my eyes focused on the ground between me and the side entrance, tracing the route that I would take, making sure that there was nothing I could slip or fall over.  
My preparation ready, I coiled my leg muscles before shooting out of the woods, pumping my legs as fast as I could toward the wall of the base. The path I had chosen was to the side of the base, just to the edge of the sentry's eye line. As soon as I reached the wall of the base, I looked up at the guard, prepared to try and dodge his shots. To my contempt I saw that he was in the same position, he hadn't noticed me. It seemed that I had been overestimating my enemies. I moved forward toward him, forgetting in my scorn for the Rockets, to make sure and keep my movements as quiet as possible. My eyes were fixed on the thin wedge of pink skin between his hair and his collar. Just a few feet shy of him I concentrated and two wickedly sharp blades slid out from my forelimbs. At the same moment I stepped on something which broke with a sharp crack, causing the human to turn. Without a second's hesitation, I threw myself forward, crashing shoulder first into his midsection. He fell awkwardly on his side, letting out a single surprised cry. Seconds later my jaws were fastened around his neck and with one powerful wrench I ripped out a large section of flesh and sinew. Without a voice box, he could only gargle as blood filled his mouth. Though still alive, he wouldn't survive much longer. Already dismissing him I moved toward the side entrance door, my heart pounding, supplying my body with vital chemicals which would help prepare me for whatever challenges lay on the other side of the door. Stepping back a couple of feet I charged and threw myself at the door.  
  
Robert was pacing up and down his dorm, impatiently waiting for the captain to return. He had to somehow convince him to keep the girl while he tried to discover how he would contact the people above him. If he told the Captain the secret about the girl he might try and use her for himself. Halfway though his prepared story he was interrupted by a cry. He stood silent for a second listening for any further noises and then was just about to continue when he heard a loud crash and another cry. Seconds later he heard the explosive sounds of gun fire.  
He froze on the spot, his imagination conjuring images of the police storming the building. There must be some way to sneak out of here, he thought desperately, running over to the window and trying to force it open. Halfway through the window he paused, suddenly thinking of the girl in the basement. He didn't want to be arrested; at his age it would end any hope he had of progression through Team Rocket. But he couldn't just leave the girl here either; she was his big chance. Cursing his luck, he climbed back through the window. He cupped a Pokeball in his hand for protection, painfully aware though of how useless his Pokemon would be against gunfire. Moving toward the door, he felt his heart begin to thump with alarming swiftness. For the first time, the thought that he could die entered his head. Trying to ignore this train of thought he took a deep breath and raised a shaking hand to the door handle. Easing it open, he poked his head out. There was a strange silence; the kind of silence that is felt when something violent has occurred. When he walked into the main section of the building his eyes widened in shock. There were bullet holes across the opposite wall and the side door had been broken in half. As he took a couple of steps forward he got a clearer view of the room and he felt his heart freeze. Through the broken door, he saw a limp body, still spurting blood into the air. To his left, by the door to the Captain's office lay another body. He turned away quickly from the shredded form feeling sick. A scream sounded from behind him, toward the main entrance and the sound of another shot. The feeling of fear was so great inside him; he felt like trying to find someplace to hide. Giving himself up to the police wouldn't be as bad as dying…  
His dream of success suddenly came back to him. If he could just get the girl out of here he would be set up for life. Someday he would be lying surrounded by money and thinking back to his moment.  
Steeling himself, he headed over to the door down to the basement. Stumbling down the dark stairs as fast as he could, he cursed himself under his breath for not turning on the lights. Half falling down the last couple of stairs he managed to keep his balance and he continued into the middle of the large basement. Despite the faint light from the ceiling, his eyes were still accustomed to the light of the day above and he could barely see the cages, let alone the occupants inside. Turning around, he tried to remember where he had put the girl.  
  
With the dispassionate interest of someone who is concentrating on something else, Susan glanced toward the man who had just entered the room. If her memory served her right, he was one of the Rockets who she had run into in the forest. He must have dragged me here, she though distractedly. Despite this she felt no anger toward him at the moment, there were much more important things for her to consider. She was forcing herself to try and remember where she had come across the dreams in the past. Her dreams were too clear for her just to dismiss and they were all strangely connected. The initial panic she had felt about them had retreated, but she was still determined to discover what had caused them. Regardless how much she tried however, she couldn't seem to recall any more of the strange dreams. The dreams stopped and started suddenly and she couldn't seem to link any of them together.  
The thing, she thought as she leaned back against the bars, that scared her the most was the fear that she might be going mad. In all of the dreams she seemed to be someone else. Wasn't it a mental disease where someone had two different personalities, she thought with growing concern? Could she really…  
The Rocket had moved forward and had gripped the bars of her cage, startling her back to reality. Her cage was atop another and so was about the height of his chest, forcing him to bend down to stare in at her. His mouth curved into a smile as he looked at her and for the first time, Susan began to feel nervous about her present position. What was Team Rocket planning on doing to her, she thought, panic beginning to grow inside her.  
Suddenly she heard a hollow thump from behind the man. As Rocket turned to stare, Susan leaned against the bars of the cage to try and get a better view of whatever had created the noise. It was standing in deep shadow beside the staircase and so Susan only got an impression of a dark shape. With slow deliberate movements it moved forward. Susan let out a gasp as she caught sight of it. Despite having never in her memory laying eyes upon it, she felt that she instinctively knew him. He was four legged and stood about as tall as the Rocket's knee's. In the gloom she couldn't see any of his features or markings but ideas from seemingly nowhere, surfaced in her mind about what these would be. He was the Hunter, she suddenly thought.  
Her head started to pound with heavy bell beats, forcing her to collapse clutching her head, feeling as it was going to crack. Image after image flashed before her brain as if the sight of the creature had broken a dam in her head. She had seen his birth, seen his very first breath….  
An image suddenly appeared before her brain. It was an image of Pokemon she knew quite well, it was Mew. It stared at her for a second before leaping forward toward her. Seconds later Susan screamed out, her whole body engulfed with pain. She could feel her skin retracting, and stretching over her body, could feel her bones grinding against each other and her knuckles splitting out through her skin, causing blood to spill down her fingers. Inside her body she could feel her organs shifting about as if being pushed and pinched by an invisible force. Twisting and squirming, she thrashed against the sides of her cage, trying to escape from the pain. Unknown to her, green electricity began to spark ominously around her.  
  
The human was slow to react and by the time he had perceived me as a threat, my blades had already slid out. Vaulting forward I smashed into him, hitting him back against the cages. As he fell to the ground I slashed and clawed at him until he was nothing but a bloody mess. My heart was beating at a frenzied rate and my limbs were shaking. When I killed I felt immortal, as if I was the Hunt itself. Though my jaws were slavering I ignored the body of the man and turned instead to the human in the cage, my prey.  
Something strange was happening to her, sparks flicking around her shaking body. Her skin looked as if it was bubbling, different lumps were appearing and moving up and down her body. Something long and pink suddenly shot out from behind her and she reared up, her face upturned, mouth wide open in a scream, exposing pointed canines. I recognised that tail and those teeth. Could my Hunt finally be over? Could this be Her?  
As I watched with fascination, her body shrank, her human created fur already destroyed by the psychic energy sparking around her. Seconds later it was all over, the human had been replaced by the pink cat. I was just about to move forward, when she let out a high-pitched scream. Psychic energy shone out from her blinding me, and then she shot upward, slicing through the cage above her and the metal roof, disappearing into the blue sky. I was shocked into stillness for a couple of seconds before I realised that my prey was escaping from me. I spun round ready to bound up the stairs only to find that someone was already standing there. It was a human female wearing the colours of a Rocket. In her hand was a human weapon, a gun. While concentrating on the Mew I had failed to hear her come down the stairs.  
Without any warning there was the sound of a detonation and the weapon spat its lead projectile at me. Still surprised at her appearance I was unable to dodge. The impact knocked me backwards but I was only faintly aware of this. Pain had exploded through me causing me to cry out. As the blood spilled from my side I stared up at the human that I had somehow missed.  
  
I hope to have a new chapter of this up soon. This chapter is a bit bigger than the others as I didn't really want to rush the introduction of the characters. Can you please review it and tell me what you think of it so far? Thanks to Farla for her advice with this. 


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